Forbes: Federal Shutdown and the Fight Against Microbes

Oct 3, 2013, 11:19 AM

Recent debate about the federal government shutdown that started two days ago for federal employees has included a wide range of concerns and viewpoints from different sides of the spectrum. But Forbes Magazine has a new article that points out that the shutdown means something else entirely for some often overlooked, but very influential, bodies outside the federal government: microbes.

According to the piece in Forbes, the shutdown has the potential:

to pose a threat to public health because [it will] allow microbes to gain footholds as our defenses against them falter.

The article reported that several federal agencies will reduce such critical work as research funding, food inspections and surveillance for the flu and other infectious diseases including the emerging MERS virus, which has caused dozens of deaths overseas. A recent post from The Atlantic also pointed out a related piece of reporting from The Wall Street Journal: "about 200 patients who otherwise would be admitted to the NIH Clinical Center into clinical trials each week will be turned away. This includes about 30 children, most of them cancer patients...."